Friday, June 27, 2014

Stephen Harper and the Destruction of the CBC



Gawd. I can only imagine Stephen Harper's state of mind. I bet he's so alarmingly aroused that they've had to bring in Jason Kenney with a bucket of ice water to sponge him down.

Or have John Baird fan him furiously. 

Because on Wednesday he gave the order to begin dismantling medicare. Yesterday he celebrated the triumph of hate over human rights.

And last night he got to dine on the remains of the CBC. 

The CBC plans to cut up to 20 per cent of its staff by 2020, including a sharp reduction over the next year as it transitions to a leaner, mobile-first strategy aimed at keeping costs under control.

Which as you know he has been dreaming of doing from the moment he came to power...



And no doubt after the dinner was over, he gave the head waiter, CBC President Hubert Lacroix, a generous tip for services rendered. 

The CBC’s enemies are not only circling their prey from the outside, including the Conservative government with its unrelenting budget cuts. Its enemies are also working from within. The CBC has a compliant board of directors overwhelmingly stacked with Conservative party donors and a president, also conservative, who appears ready to implement any budget cut in virtual silence.

Let us not be fooled. In the dead of night across this country, cut by cut, in small towns and large cities, in newsrooms and documentary edit suites, Canada’s public broadcaster is being destroyed.


For whether Lacroix sought the role or not, he has turned out to be Lord Harper's velvet gloved executioner.

For only an executioner could make eliminating the jobs of so many employees sound like a positive move...



And Lacroix seems to have forgotten two very important things:

One, the Con regime is not the CBC shareholder. 

“Lacroix should resign. He is helping Stephen Harper drive CBC into the ground. Today he told CBC’s employees that the government is the shareholder. That’s false: all Canadian are shareholders,” said Friends spokesperson Ian Morrison.

He is helping Harper make the CBC smaller and weaker. 

And two, the CBC is not a business, it's a service. 

The CBC’s strategic plan to shift priorities from broadcast to digital services and outsource virtually all but news and current affairs programming is, on the whole, a sensible strategy – from a purely business perspective.

The thing is, however, that the public broadcaster is not a business in any conventional sense. It exists not to make money or to satisfy financial goals, but to fill a public need – one that is not being served by private media outlets. The CBC is a public good, like the school system, like medicare, like our universities and colleges, our public museums and galleries.


So while it's good to strengthen its internet presence, it makes no sense to reduce its TV presence. Not when more Canadians are watching TV, an average of 28 hours a week up from 23 hours in the last survey. And that number is sure to grow as the population ages.

And all Lacroix's five year plan would do is fragment its mandate.

Most people who study digital online media recognize that one of its impacts is to atomize audiences. Where traditional broadcasting creates a kind of congregation, a community of interest, the fragmented, specialized nature of Internet content tends to encourage individuals to focus on their own established interests. There is certainly a place for this, but it runs counter to the community-building remit of public broadcasting.

But then of course that exactly what Stephen Harper wants. For he hates anything Canadian  that would bring us together, like the CBC, the Charter of Rights, and medicare. 

He would rather unite us through the celebration of war.

On Harper TV, or his Palpatine Propaganda Channel...




While showing the CBC no mercy.

At Thursday’s town hall, Mr. Lacroix told dispirited employees that the corporation’s executives went to Shelley Glover, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and asked for a line of credit and one-time money to help with severance costs, but were turned down.

Ms. Glover said in a statement that the CBC “is responsible for its own operations” and should adapt to the changing landscape “within its existing budget,” which includes a billion-dollar federal subsidy.


Even though public broadcasting in this country receives so much less support than it does in other countries.

At present, the CBC receives an annual parliamentary appropriation of about $1.34-billion. This puts Canada third from the bottom of the list of OECD nations’ support for their PSBs.

He would slash and burn and burn it beyond recognition...



And the good news?

This is still the best way to save the CBC and Canada.

“This is a plan to do less with less and Harper’s cuts are to blame. CBC is popular with Canadians who will remember the government’s record of hostility to CBC at election time,” said Morrison.

For we can use his treatment of the CBC, to help portray him as an enemy of OUR Canada. 

A man who would seek to privatize medicare like the Republicans. A political pervert who would attack the Supreme Court like a depraved tea bagger. A stooge who would sell us out to foreign interests, and flood this country with foreign workers.

And when we put it all together, in the most vicious attack ads this country has ever seen, it will help to destroy him.

For he may have his vision of the CBC, but I have my vision of him and his filthy regime...




Yup. Now more than ever, stand up for our Canada.

Before he destroys everything good and decent about this country.

Show your support for the CBC and its brutalized employees.

And defeat that monstrous leader...

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7 comments:

  1. e.a.f.1:06 PM

    they have decided to go "digital" I wonder if that is another way of saying harper is putting his finger up our asses? Not everyone gets their news via their phone with apps. Its just a smoke screen. Haprer and his herd simply want the c.b.c gone. It is the last source of independent news in Canada. That can not be permitted to continue. No news, no documentaries, everything is great in Canada.

    A very interesting article in The Guardian yesterday about he "media hacking trials" in England. The argument put forth was it wasn't about crime, it was about power and money. Power and money won the day, give Rebekh got a walk, but them she did have 18 lawyers and the crown one. That case simply laid out how Murdoch corrupted a country and its political system to control everything and got away with it. Harper and his herd will be doing the same in Canada. However, first, they need to destroy the C.B.C. If it weren't for the C.B.C we wouldn't be getting half the news we are.

    Now to write my m.p. to express my concern. we can only hope the next government fires the harper herd annointees at the CBC and they are able to get back to providing a service.

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    1. hi e.a.f.... the decision to go digital is an attempt to go after younger Canadians, which is fine. Except that as I pointed out in my post gives the finger to their older and more faithful audience who still watch a lot of television. And it will also lose them even more revenue because making money from the internet is very difficult as media organizations everywhere are finding out. But as I also said in my post, it's the vaporization of their community building approach which is their biggest error, and if they are not careful will render them irrelevant. The CBC has many talented employees, but their managers are absolutely hopeless...

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  2. Anonymous3:24 PM

    Harper has Canadians living in very evil times. Harper hates Canada and everything with name Canada attached to it, Harper is getting rid of. Harper is a fascist dictator and has been, right from day one. Harper is a monster. All dictators are paranoid and Harper's security bill has doubled. Harper's now has, government guards carrying guns.

    Harper couldn't control the CBC to be his propaganda machine, as the other news outlets are controlled. Where ever the truth about Harper is exposed, he gets rid of them. Harper as a sociopath, has not one decent bone in his body. Nor did the dictators of the 30's and 40's.

    Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler were all dictators and control freaks. Who can forget about the little creep Goebbels, who was Hitler's propaganda machine? When I first heard Callandra, he reminded me of Goebbels, with his ranting and raving.

    I firmly believe, Harper cheated the last election with, his robo-call scam. Harper has all of his ducks in a row, to cheat this next election too.

    Harper too destroys book's as another dictator did so, he can rewrite Canadian history.

    We know, ex BC Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell works for Harper. Campbell, Harper, Nigel Wright, Jason Kenny and Conrad Black are all Bilderbergers. I believe, Conrad Black was on the steering committee of the Bilderberg Group. Black was also, a member of Harper's Northern Foundation of 1989.

    CBC has been, the voice for Canada and our window on the world, since before WW2. Harper has to shut the CBC, the hell up. Harper is using every dirty tactic in the book, to destroy the CBC. We also know, CBC always have politicians from every party on for debates. However, Harper is a cesspool of evil and a fascist dictator. Harper fits the profile of a dictator, right to a T.

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    1. hi anon...yes Harper is a wannabe dictator, and he would destroys the CBC just to please his rabid base and satisfy his own demons. But hopefully more Canadians are realizing that and his days are numbered...

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  3. Anonymous10:00 PM

    hi Simon:

    let me first say that I really enjoy your blog, although I do think you spend to much time fixated on our beloved leader. I get polled every couple of weeks and always tell the pollster what a bang up job our dear leader is doing on our behalf. I have also indicated how wonderfull the ninny wife is! I was recently surprised by a friend in Alberta who told me that he is also telling a polling company the same thing. We both share this desire to watch beloved leader humiliated on the CBC during the next election. I also suspect that there are a lot of people out there also lying to the pollsters, based on recent election results in both Quebec and Ontario. One thing I always say about Canadians while we are generally whinny complainers, we can still pick out a horses arse! On a brighter note, fantastic decision for the Chilcoot band in BC. As a displaced British Columbian I must say this is a proud moment for BC and Canada. There are things which are far more important than moving tar to China!

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    1. hi anon...you're probably right, I do spend a lot of time attacking Stephen Harper. But he is the front man for the Cons, and sometimes it's idea to write a post by personalizing my attacks rather than deal with the wider picture. And of course, I can't deny that attacking that ghastly bully is more of a pleasure than a duty. ;) I am however planning to readjust my style, since it is a bit old fashioned. I want to cutdown on the amount of words I use, try making more videos, and combining the two in a shorter but hopefully more powerful presentation. Needless to say the video in this post is not a good example. Ahem. But I made it in less than half an hour, so I know that at least time wise it's possible.
      And yes, the Chilcoot band court victory is huge, and has incredible implications. They can be proud of themselves and so can BC...

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  4. Letter: A lament for a country lost
    http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2014/06/29/a_lament_for_a_country_lost.html

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